New Pharmacy Advisory Board takes up the cudgels for the industry

The newly constituted multi-stakeholder Pharmacy Advisory Board believes that pharmacists and pharmacies have an increasingly important role in providing primary healthcare services in South Africa, and seeks to find solutions to challenges facing the country's pharmacy sector.

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It will provide a common platform to identify key challenges and opportunities in training, quality and regulatory issues; and help address the skills shortage in the pharmacy sector by supporting training for pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and front shop assistants. It will also benchmark South African pharmacy against international best practice, and help to develop the sector to meet changing local needs.

Among the proposed measures, the board hopes to facilitate sponsorships of tertiary institutions and teaching posts, professional development portals for pharmacists and front shop assistants, product training sessions, and the distribution of good pharmacy practice guides and operating procedure manuals.

A potential outcome of the new board’s work will also be to support ongoing and effective communication between the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC), professional bodies and pharmacists across South Africa.